By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page A12 Toledo played a role in the invention of modern broadcast radio. Marconi invented radio in 1895, but his machinery could only produce a faint, tiny signal, making it almost useless for large-scale use. In 1906, Dr. Lee DeForest invented what he called the Audion, and what is […]
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page A1 It was the most recognized voice on local radio. Floating through the air to anxious listeners across northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, it told the news every morning to tens of thousands. And it ended every newscast the same way: “This is Jim Uebelhart filing Gas Company […]
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By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page 1 It may not have the ring of “We’re No. 1!,” but “We’re not No. 274!” isn’t bad, either. Money magazine has published its annual survey of which of America’s 300 largest cities are the “Best Places To Live,” and Toledo does not appear in its usual position […]
Read More… from City can take some cheer in magazine’s yearly ratings
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page A1 Madalyn Murray O’Hair, America’s most famous atheist, was ready to retire. Back in 1964, Life magazine had called the former Rossford resident “The Most Hated Woman In America” after she had won a Supreme Court case stopping prayer in public schools. For two decades, her brash, abrasive […]
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page A10 It was the ultimate betrayal for Madalyn Murray O’Hair. On Mother’s Day, 1980, her oldest son, William Murray, made an announcement: he had found God, and was abandoning his mother’s atheism for fundamentalist Christianity. It was made in a letter to the editor in the Baltimore Sun […]
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page A11 Some might say the true legacy of Madalyn Murray O’Hair is her Supreme Court battle that ended mandatory school prayer. But for employees of the Federal Communications Commission, it’s Petition 2493. It’s one of the great urban legends of our time: that Ms. O’Hair was petitioning the […]
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page 1 After three years of effort – and thousands of checks big and small – the Valentine Theatre’s capital campaign has reached its $6.5 million fund-raising goal. “We’re absolutely thrilled,” said Jim White, Jr., a lawyer with Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, who chaired the fund-raising effort. “We’ve gotten […]
By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page A3 A Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority board member is questioning whether the agency should continue to have its legal work done by the Spengler Nathanson law firm, after it made a judgment he says could have cost the agency millions. “I just want to make sure that taxpayers […]
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By Joshua Benton Blade Staff Writer Page 12 Not far from the carnival music at yesterday’s Roche de Boeuf festival in Waterville was a quieter sound – one that might have been heard 150 years ago. The Black Swamp Dulcimer Gathering brought their sweet stringed music from the 19th century to the modern day. “We […]
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Sunday, August 22, 1999 Page 1A Even today, a visit to Pitcairn is not plain sailing BY JOSHUA BENTON BLADE STAFF WRITER Getting to Pitcairn today isn’t much easier than it was for Fletcher Christian. There’s no airstrip for planes. There’s no regular passenger service of any kind, air or sea. And if you do […]
Read More… from PITCAIRN: Even today, a visit to Pitcairn is not plain sailing